Pauline Chivenge
About
Dr. Chivenge’s research work has mostly focused on management of natural resources for improved crop productivity. She has extensive experience in participatory research in smallholder agriculture in East and Southern Africa, and South East Asia studying the optimal and sustainable utilization of natural resources for enhanced food production. Her research has broadly focused on seeking optimal management options that improve biogeochemical nutrient cycling, soil and water management, carbon sequestration, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in different cropping systems. She is an interdisciplinary scientist and uses a suite of analytical techniques to investigate soil carbon and nutrient dynamics in relation to sustainable utilization of natural resources, ecosystem processing, land-use and land management changes and global climate change.
As one of the Work Package 1 leads, she will spearhead the design and implementation of nutrient omission plot trials (NOPT), and use the results for developing algorithms for updating Rice Crop Manager (RCM). She will also lead the design and implementation of trials to evaluate RCM recommendations in farmers’ fields. Data from NOPT and RCM evaluation trials will be synthesized, and analyzed and used to update RCM. She will also contribute to the capacity building of national partners, focusing on site-specific nutrient management.
Professional Experience
2017 - current
- Senior Scientist - Soil and Nutrient Management, IRRI, Philippines
- Conducting research on soil and nutrient management in rice based cropping systems in South East Asia and East and Southern Africa
- Research on soil organic carbon sequestration in rice cropping systems
- Conducting agronomy research at scale, using digital tools such as Rice Crop Manager in the Philippines, Myanmar and Indonesia
- Evaluating sustainability of management in long-term rice experiments at IRRI
- Mentoring graduate students and interns
2014 - 2016
- Senior Scientist - Agroecosystems and Watershed Management, International Crops Research Institute in the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Zimbabwe
2012 - 2014
- Lecturer - Soil Science, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
2010 - 2012
- Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Purdue University, USA
2009 - 2010
- Postdoctoral Scholar, University of California Davis, USA
Educational Background
2008
- PhD, Soils and Biogeochemistry, University of California Davis, USA Course and Field; School/ University; Country of Univ
2003
- MPhil, Soil Science, University of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe
1997
- BSc, Agriculture Honors in Soil Science, University of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe